


Whispers

by fitslikeakey



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gryffindor Scott, Hogwarts AU, Slytherin Tessa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fitslikeakey/pseuds/fitslikeakey
Summary: The arrival of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts brings a surprise to all of its students.Namely, how much time the Gryffindor golden boy has been spending with the Slytherin ice queen.





	Whispers

**Author's Note:**

> I opened a new document and this happened. Enjoy.

“I need your help.”

Tessa yelps at the sudden voice in her ear, nearly causing her to topple off the stump she’s been perched on next to the Great Lake for the past two hours.

“I am going to hex you into next week, Scott.” He’s right there to catch her, a stupid grin on his face at her surprise. 

“Oh come on T, you wouldn’t do that to me.” Scott has a pout on his face, and it’s so endearingly cute it makes her want to smack him.

“You’re right, Professor Browning probably wouldn’t like it too much if a measly sixteen year old knocked his precious Triwizard Tournament champion on his back.” He smirks at her, and she groans. “Did you have a reason for disturbing my peace and quiet?”

“Yeah, why the hell are you out here? It’s December, it’s freezing out here.” Scott immediately removes his cloak, wrapping it around Tessa tightly. She ignores the immediate comfort from his scent, forcing her face into a scowl.

“Trying to smother your house on me again, I see.”

“We Gryffindors are nothing if not persistent arseholes,” Scott teases, and he doesn’t say anything when she leaves his cloak wrapped around her. “Seriously, I need your help. The second task is in like a month, and I still haven’t worked out what is in this damn clam shell they gave me.”

“It’s a pearl, Scott, it comes inside a clam shell.” Tessa answers patiently. “How are you so sure that there’s something in it?”

Scott sighs. “I’ve been studying past tournaments. There’s this pattern with the tournaments- the first task, you don’t get any information, third task, you get handed the clue, second task, you get an obscure clue and you have to work for it. There has to be more to this, but it doesn’t seem to open to any kind of conditions that I expose it to – water, heat, cold, fire, it’s all the same. I’ve tried hexing it open and that hasn’t worked either. I even tried asking it politely.”

“Wonders never cease,” Tessa says under her breath.

“Tess-a,” Scott says, the words over-pronounced and dragged out. He moved around to face her front, and kneels down so he can look up into her eyes. When he does, she looks down, her cheeks pink. “What’s this about?”

She stares at the ground, feeling his eyes on her. She knows it’s an innocent question but still, she feels interrogated, and if it weren’t for the sweet way Scott keeps rubbing his thumb over her knee, she wouldn’t speak at all. “It’s nothing.”

“I know when my best friend is lying to me,” Scott says softly.

She snorts. “Some best friend you’ve been lately. Lately you only come to me when you need something.”

“I’ve been busy,” he answers defensively. “It’s my last year and I somehow have to fit in my NEWTs with this whole tournament thing and figure out what I actually want to do next year. And I feel like the dumbest person competing, Guillaume and Ekaterina are so much more clever than I am and I have to do twice as much research to figure this out. And that’s not to mention trying to fit in time to see Kaitlyn.” At Tessa’s crestfallen look, he takes a deep breath, grabbing her hand. “I’m sorry, Tess. I shouldn’t be neglecting you as a friend, just because I have a girlfriend now. You’ve been in my life much longer.”

“It’s fine,” Tessa mutters. _It’s not_.

“It’s not,” he insists, and he reaches up to put his palm on her hand. “Tess, you know you’re my favorite person in the world, right? Who else could have been my study partner all these years?”

“Well after our professional ice dancing career didn’t work out,” Tessa says with a hint of a smile.

“Aunt Carol doesn’t know what she missed out on,” Scott says, jumping up and spinning with a flourish. Tessa can’t help but grin back at him.

“I think what she missed out on was us accidentally charming the ice to melt and freezing all of us to death.”

“Hey,” Scott says, throwing his hands up, “it’s not our fault that my mom hadn’t told her that she married a wizard.” They’re both grinning now, and Tessa feels the hand on her cheek like it belongs there.

“I just miss you,” she says finally. Scott’s hand slips into her hair and he scratches her head affectionately.

“Was that so hard? Admitting you have feelings isn’t so bad, is it Miss Slytherin?”

“Scooooottt,” she whines, and it sounds so much like when they were kids that he laughs at her.

“Come on, partner. Let’s go figure this out.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

In truth, no one totally understands their friendship, Scott and Tessa included. They had met as kids in Canada, where Tessa’s parents had been placed as ambassadors. Scott’s mother was a muggle and his father, though a Canadian, had attended Hogwarts, as his own parents had preferred Hogwarts’ more classical style of education. Tessa had cried for weeks after he left for his first year, and when he’d returned for Christmas vacation, she’d listened to his stories about school for hours.

Scott had been placed into Gryffindor approximately two seconds after the Sorting Hat was placed on his head, and Tessa was nearly bouncing off the walls in her excitement to join him the next year. For the first time, she would be just a common room away from her best friend, not a whole town over, and they would be able to spend hours together every day, playing games and doing homework together.

It hadn’t quite worked out that way. When “Virtue, Tessa” was called on the first of September that year, the Sorting Hat had considered her for nearly four minutes before calling out “SLYTHERIN!” Tessa could never forget the look on Scott’s face that day, as if he’d been completely blind-sided by their separation.

It had taken months for Tessa to realize that she actually belonged in Slytherin. She adored their head of house, Patrice Lauzon, who was the Potions professor, and she had quickly become friends with two others in her year, Madison and Zach, as well as a Ravenclaw named Kaitlyn Weaver. Over time, the dungeons that had once felt like a prison to her became a quiet retreat, a source of relief at the end of a long day of school.

Scott hadn’t taken it so well. In the years that followed, he’d joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and it wasn’t long before he was best friends with the entire house. Tessa stuck more to her small group of friends, her nickname ‘Slytherin Ice Queen’ formed from her love of winter at Hogwarts and her reputation for turning down every boy that looked her way. As they’d gone through school, their friendship has felt almost like a secret, choosing to hide out in the back of the library and do homework together quietly, sometimes sneaking off on long walks around the castle to catch up and find new adventures together.

Still, It's been since Scott was chosen as Triwizard Champion for Hogwarts that their friendship has truly blossomed. Though most of the school chalked up Scott’s impressive wand skills to natural talent, Tessa has watched him practice spells constantly during their shared time at the castle, and he’s helped her with Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms while she coaches him through Potions and Transfiguration. By the time the tournament was announced, she doesn't think anyone else could match up.

 

* * *

 

 

 

It takes weeks for the pair of them to figure out the clue. In the end, Tessa figures out that exposing the pearl to different levels of light and darkness reveals different symbols on the pearl, and when they spell the pearl bigger, they’re able to pick out two of them- wings, and a serpent. “It’s an Occamy,” Tessa says excitedly.  She turns to Scott, who is asleep on their table at the far corner of the library. His head is on top of one of the large, open books that they’ve been studying for the past nine hours, and he’s got a hand wrapped around one of the legs of Tessa’s chair. “Scott, wake up. _Wake up_.”

“Huh?” He says drowsily, dragging the chair closer. Tessa squeaks. He lifts his head slowly, eyes opening on the almost extinct fire burning off in the distance. The library is almost empty, and the soft crackle of the flames are the only remaining sound. “Tess, what time is it?”

“I don’t know, it must be past midnight, but _look_ ,” she says excitedly. “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, it’s so simple! They’re winged, serpent creatures who are fiercely protective of their eggs- I bet you’re going after the egg!”

Scott’s still looking at her with sleep-rimmed eyes, but he smiles at her excitement. “Great.” His voice is husky, and it sends a spark down Tessa’s back.

She giggles at him. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. What would Hogwarts think about me keeping the golden boy of Gryffindor out so late?”

Scott trudges to his feet, stretching his arms out over his head and forcing Tessa to look away to avoid the sliver of muscled skin exposed at his stomach. “What about you? I’m pretty sure I know some blokes in Slytherin that would not be happy about me keeping their Ice Queen away from them. Does the name Max Kerman ring any bells?”

“Scott no…” Tessa pleads, grabbing his arm. He’s awake now, and he takes her free hand and yanks her against him.

“Thank you for all the help, T. There’s no way I could do any of this without you,” He whispers into her hair before dropping a kiss near her ear. She’s suddenly grateful for the way he’s got her pressed up against him so that he can’t see her flushed cheeks. “We both know if you were a year older it would be you the Goblet would have picked, not me.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Tessa says in a breathy voice. _I wouldn’t have taken it away from you_. Her senses are overwhelming her and she can’t help but relax into him. His arms are strong around her from his years of Quidditch, and his hand has wandered up to play with her hair again: he must know how much she loves it, he’s torturing her. “I think we make a pretty good team.”

“Who would have thought, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin teaming up?” Tessa groans internally, because he’s doing it again. It’s like he feels the need to remind them over and over again why their friendship has become feels like a dirty little secret, why they sneak around and wait until the library is almost empty to go study, why they prefer to hang out in the forest full of dangerous creatures. She slides her hands to his chest and pushes him away smoothly.

“We should get to bed."

 

* * *

 

 

 

“The Sleeping Spell will expire when your champion manages to open the egg,” Professor Choinard explains. It’s the night before the second task, and Tessa doesn’t know how she got called to the Headmaster’s office. More than that, though, she doesn’t understand why exactly she’s being placed into a sealed egg for the sake of the Triwizard Tournament, and why she’s going to be exposed to an Occamy who may or may not accept the artificial eggs as their own. “After that, you will be drowsy for a few minutes, during which time your champion will be attempting to return you to the starting line. Do not be afraid, you are in no real danger. Should your champion fail to save you in the appropriate time, myself, Marie, and Patrice will be on standby ready to give you rescue.”

“Sir?” A voice says with a thick Bulgarian accent. “Why is it us?” Tessa has been wondering the same thing, it’s just the three of them, one for each champion: Ekaterina’s brother Dimiter, Guillaume’s best friend Alexandre, and her.

“It was determined,” Professor Choinard explains, “that you were one of the people that each champion held most dear to them.” He has an unreadable look on his face as he looks over at Tessa, it’s as though no one expected her to be the one chosen for Scott, including Tessa herself. “Through magical means.”

“Will they see us?” She asks.

“Yes,” Professor Dubreuil emerges from the Headmaster’s study. “The eggs will be clear and they will know you are there from the onset of the task. Part of this task involves the ability to stay clear-headed with something to fight for.”

Tessa’s heart sinks. Scott’s never been good at keeping his mind focused, he’d had trouble in fifth year learning the Patronus charm because he couldn’t keep his mind on one specific memory.  “How will we look to them?”

“As you actually will be- that is to say, you will be asleep and suspended in the air.”

The questions go on for a few minutes. None of the three of them are thrilled at the prospect, but the Hogwarts professors answer the questions well enough, and before long Tessa finds herself sitting in a chair, Professor Lauzon’s wand to her forehead. “Mr. Moir will rescue you, Tessa, I have no doubt about that,” he says to her in a low voice, patting her on the shoulder. She nods, and he starts whispering an incantation under his breath…           

…and suddenly she’s in the middle of the canyon next to the castle, she feels more rejuvenated than she has in months, and there’s a big round casing around her, it’s cracking open, and Tessa is falling to the ground. Scott’s there, his eyes looking darker than she’s ever seen him, and he’s wearing his school robes, but they’re torn up as if he’s been at this fight for a while. Scott realizes faster than she does that she can’t move, and he immediately hoists her into his arms.

He’s furious, she can tell that much. He’s cursing under his breath, running over the rough rock at the base of the canyon. There are hisses coming from a distance, and Tessa can’t focus her eyesight on anything, she fights the overwhelming urge to go to sleep again, and her eyes are drifting closed…

“No,” Scott snarls, “Tess I need you to stay awake. The occamy could be anywhere and we’re still a long way from the starting line and _dammit Tessa I cannot do this without you_.”

Her eyes snap open again, looking up at him as he dodges between the rock. The hisses start gradually getting louder as she starts to gain the feeling in her fingers again, and quietly she murmurs “Scott…my wand…”

“They’ve got it back at the castle, I’m sure,” he pants, his face still twisted into a scowl.

“No…it’s in my pocket. I think I can feel it. If you can reach in and get it…” Tessa’s cut off by the wind of powerful wings, and Scott has them pressed against the back of a large rock before she can even think about the fact that she can’t react. There’s no space between them; Scott’s positioned her upright and his entire body is covering hers.

“Are you okay?” He mouths. She can only barely nod her head down. With one hand firmly on her, he rotates his body around so that his back is against her, his mahogany wand pointed out at the massive snake-like creature in front of them. Tessa can only just see over his shoulder to where he’s throwing curses left and right at the occamy, and most are simply bouncing off his shiny blue skin. Tessa tries to ignore it, focusing on the hand moving slowly down her side. She’s trembling with something that’s not all fear when Scott’s fingers slip inside the pocket of her muggle jeans, pulling her black wand out gently, slipping it into her hand resting at her side, and closing her fingers around it for her. Her fingers start to bend slightly.

“ _I have an idea,_ ” she whispers into his ear. “ _Lean to your right._ ”  She tentatively squeezes her hand, and obediently her wand faces forward. After a stream of hexes fly out of his wand, Scott jumps to the side, one hand still holding her up, and Tessa transfigures a rock twenty feet away  into a silver egg.

“Come on, that’s what you really want, isn’t it?” Tessa says calmly. Her toes shift slightly in her shoes. “What do a couple of mere humans matter compared to that?”  As its large head peers over at the egg, its tail curls around, hitting the ground centimeters from Tessa and Scott’s feet. Scott’s hand is now wrapped all the way around her, and he’s pulling her to him, his wand still pointed out with his free hand.  “You have to put your wand down, it thinks you’re after its egg,” Tessa says through her teeth.

“No,” Scott answers defiantly. “Not while you’re hurt.”

“Scott can you stop being such a Gryffindor for five seconds so I can _save our necks_?”

Scott glares at her, but he lowers his wand, and she looks back at the occamy, her own wand at her side. “You’re not interested in us at all, are you? Not when there’s a shiny egg in your sight. You’re just a beast, after all, how could you be expected to focus on us?”

“ _Tessa_ ,” Scott admonishes in her ear. “Quit teasing it.” But the occamy starts to flap its wings, and in seconds it’s moving towards the egg.

Tessa turns back to Scott, and before she can even signal that her legs are working he’s ready to run. She grabs his hand and they sprint away, ducking around the boulders ahead. The rocks are becoming fewer and far between, and the finish line is within sight, but Scott’s too fast for her recovering motor functions. “Scott,” she wheezes, “I can’t, I’m too slow, my legs aren’t…” and without hesitating he’s scooped her up in his arms again, and there’s Professor Lauzon at the end with the Headmaster and the Durmstrang Headmistress and Beauxbatons Headmaster, and then there’s all of Hogwarts and the other schools staring at them, but that and even the fresh flutter of wings behind them can’t unnerve Scott as he jolts them into the finish.

He’s out of breath, but he still manages to set her gently on the ground before flopping down himself, and not even the glare of Durmstrang’s Headmistress Zueva can prevent their grins as Scott reaches over and squeezes Tessa to him again. “I thought you were a goner, kiddo,” He says, ruffling her hair.

They’re still laughing when the Ministry official starts speaking loudly to the crowd.  “With a time of eighteen minutes and forty-three seconds, the Hogwarts Champion has been awarded first place!”

“You did it!” Tessa squeals, hugging him again, and they’re both ignoring the cheers of the crowd.

“That was some kind of teamwork,” Professor Lauzon says, a wide grin on his face as he steps towards them.  “You know the other two just made Portkeys and moved their friends to safety. You saved time by working with Tessa to get to the finish. You didn’t even get hurt.”

“Some kind of teamwork,” a female voice echoes, and Tessa turns to see Kaitlyn Lawes approaching them from the crowd. Tessa disentangles herself from Scott. “I’ve never seen anything like what you guys did.”

“It was just a crazy idea, all of it,” she answers. “I couldn’t have done it without Scott, really.”

Kaitlyn looks doubtful. “But the way you seemed to know what the other was going to do…” She reaches out and grabs Scott’s hand.

Tessa suddenly can’t help herself. “Well we have been friends for a long time. It’s hard to break a bond like that.” Even as the words are coming out of her mouth, she can feel Scott tense beside her.

Kaitlyn bites her lip, shooting a look towards her noticeably silent boyfriend. “I guess I just didn’t realize you were that close.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

The whispers start before they’ve even made it to the Hospital Wing to be examined, and in the days that follow, they don’t stop. “Did you _see_ the way he was holding on to her?” She hears Meryl Davis say to another Ravenclaw one day as she’s passing through the Owlery. “It was like he was her own personal shield, he looked positively _murderous_.”

“I think it’s sweet,” she hears Anna Cappelini saying to her friend Luca in the Great Hall at lunch a week after the Second Task. “I didn’t know that they were even friends.”

“Positively _adorable_ ,” Madison teases her as she sits down at the Slytherin table, already familiar with the irritated look on Tessa’s face.

“Oh shove off,” Tessa groans, reaching for the bread in front of her.

“No really,” Zach adds in, “You have your own personal Gryffindor. Isn’t that sort of like having a lap-dog? Always loyal, always impulsive, always stubborn?”

Tessa rolls her eyes even as her head turns toward the Gryffindor table. Scott’s sitting there with Patrick Chan and Kaitlyn, and even from the other side of the Great Hall she can tell that he’s just as irritated as she is. They’ve been avoiding each other all week, trying to sway Hogwarts’ interest away from them, but it’s been to no avail. 

“Really though Tess, how did we not know you were friends with the golden boy? We might have laid off the jokes if we knew.”

“I told you to lay off the jokes and you never did,” Tessa grumbles, and Scott’s eyes meet hers. She shrugs her shoulders, accepting that the taunts aren’t going away, and after a minute he does the same.

It seems like a truce.

 That is, until the Yule Ball comes up.

 

* * *

 

 

 

“I’m not going,” Tessa announces as she slams her Charms book on the ground in the forest three weeks after the task.

“Why not?” Scott asks curiously. “It’s not like we have dances at Hogwarts all the time. Who knows, you might even be good at it.”

“I won’t be,” she retorts, “because I’m not going. I have had _enough_ of these whispers. Scott, we are literally hiding in the forest.”

“Tess, we always hide in the forest” he says, and she immediately groans because he’s using that voice, the soft, pleading one that can get her to do anything. He wraps his arms around her and pulls her into him, and she hates herself for the way it makes her shiver. “Plus, I was sort of hoping that you would be my date.”

“What?!” Tessa shouts, and he has to tighten his arms to keep her from backing away from him. “Scott, how exactly is that going to help distract people?”

“It won’t,” he answers, unconcerned. “I just thought it would be fun to take my best friend.”

“What about Kaitlyn?”

He sighs. “We broke up.”

“Because of what happened at the task?”

“Among other things,” he says, and when he doesn’t elaborate, she decides against pressing further, focusing instead on the pleasant way he’s tugging on the ends of her hair. “But it’s fine, because I’ll have the prettiest girl in the room with me.”

“Oh, you convinced Kaitlyn Weaver to go with you instead?”

“ _No_ ,” he says petulantly, and as an afterthought- “Besides, Andrew would kill me. I mean you, you doofus.”

“Scott, you’re a champion, you have to do the first waltz and everyone would be looking at us. Besides, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin have never gone to the Yule Ball together, it’s unheard of.”

“So we’ll be trailblazers,” he says, and he drops his head so that his nose is brushing along her neck. “Come on, Tess,” he says, his voice rich and velvety and deep, too deep. “What a pair we’ll be, the Gryffindor golden boy and the Slytherin ice queen.”

She can feel herself giving in even before he drops a kiss on her neck. “Fine. I’ll go. But there better be chocolate.”

Scott cheers. “I’ll make sure of it. Any other requests, your Grace?”

“I’m wearing a green dress.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

The nerves hit Tessa hours before the ball actually starts on Valentine’s Day. “Don’t get me wrong, Tessa, you’re always welcome in Ravenclaw Tower, but why didn’t you want to get ready in the dungeons?” Kaitlyn Weaver asks, brushing Tessa’s dark hair out of her face.

“I couldn’t take the whispering anymore, it’s been _weeks_.”

“I don’t know why they’re all so surprised, the signs have been there since you got to Hogwarts,” she comments, and when she mutters a charm into Tessa’s hair it springs into soft curls.

“What signs?”

Kaitlyn smiles. “Oh you know, the way you look at each other and mouth things when you think other people aren’t looking, the way you sneak off at the same time, the fact that you have your own study table at the library, the way he looks at you like you invented magic…”

“He doesn’t look at me any special way,” Tessa says stubbornly, crossing her arms in front of her as Kaitlyn starts putting something skin-colored on her cheeks.

“You should have seen him when he figured out what the Task was, Tessa. He was already worried because he couldn’t find you that morning, and when he saw where you were, he looked ready to pull out some Unforgivables. I’ve don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry.” Kaitlyn’s dusting things on her eyes now, her tone totally unaffected.”

“That’s not why people are- I mean they shouldn’t be- We’re just friends,” Tessa gets out, and Kaitlyn is giggling at her.

“Sure Tess. And you’re going to the Yule Ball with who again?”

“As friends,” Tessa says, enunciating her words. “And partners. We are partners. Study partners.”

Kaitlyn’s laughing at her again. “Okay, whatever you say. Doesn’t change the way Scott Moir looks at you.”

“You’re one to talk, you know. Aren’t you going with Andrew?”  Kaitlyn lets out a long, overdramatic sigh, and Tessa laughs. “Still hasn’t gotten a clue, huh?”

“No, and if this backless dress I’m wearing tonight doesn’t do it, I’m going to drag him into a broom closet and snog him myself. Hufflepuffs, _honestly_.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Tessa admits. “I mean, the fact that he dotes on you so much and doesn’t expect anything other than friendship.”

“Sweet,” Kaitlyn echoes. “But you’d think he would give himself more of a chance. I know I turned him down fourth year, but that was ages ago, and it’s been months since Charlie and I broke up, and last I heard he’s been seeing Tanith Belbin on weekends.” She finishes applying makeup to Tessa’s face, and they both stand back and inspect themselves in the mirror. “I think we look pretty good, Virtue.” Kaitlyn’s soft pink dress accents her the glow of her skin beautifully, and the lace design of the top accentuates her collarbone and the curve of her body. Tessa’s gown is strapless, an emerald color fitted around her waist and flaring at her legs.

“Kaitlyn, Andrew won’t remember to breathe when he sees you.”

Kaitlyn smiles at the mirror, giving Tessa’s dress a good once-over. “Then two men will need resuscitation tonight.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

She parts ways with Kaitlyn once they reach the entrance hall, since Andrew is already waiting inside and Kaitlyn is eager to start the night. She’s anxious as she waits for Scott to show up, pacing back and forth in front of the Great Hall doors for several minutes and trying to slow down the pounding in her chest. “Merlin’s beard,” she hears from behind her. She turns around.

Scott standing at the top of the stairs, his scarlet robes every bit as representative of his house as her gown is of her own. He’s trimmed his hair slightly so the tail on his neck is gone, and for once, he even looks like he’s brushed it. He stares at her unashamedly, and when a grin spreads from one ear to the other, she flushes. “Scott, we look like Christmas,” she says.

“We look like unity, kiddo,” he says, and her flush deepens when he kisses her cheek. “You look absolutely beautiful, by the way.”

She’s still blushing minutes later when Professor Dubreuil reaches the entrance hall to line them up. Guillaume is with fellow Beauxbatons student named Gabrielle, and the pair are hardly looking at each other. Ekaterina has brought a fellow Hogwarts student, a Ravenclaw (and Russian transplant) named Sergei.

Tessa is still moving her feet back and forth anxiously. “Stop being so nervous,” Scott whispers into her ear as they join the back of the line. “It’s just us, Tessa. Just us.” He pulls her into a hug, and for some reason it seems to be exactly what she needs. His arms are as comforting as they’ve been since she was a child falling off a muggle bike in Canada, and she wraps her own arms tightly around his back. They breathe together, in and out, in and out, and her heart rate slows for the first time that day.

 The doors open as they part. The Great Hall is full of eyes, all staring at Tessa and Scott and the hands clasped between them, and Scott tightens his grip when the whispers start again, his eyes boldly facing forward. They process through the crowd, and they reach the dance floor in record time, turning to face one another again. “Together,” she finds herself murmuring under her breath, and the music begins.

It’s almost poetic, how time slows down when they start dancing. Their eyes are locked together, and Tessa’s body seems to know what Scott will do next even before her mind does. They glide along the white dance floor almost as if they’re skating on ice, and when Scott lifts her up and spins her around, she faintly feels like she would be able to fly without a broomstick. Her hands are gripping him so tightly, holding on to the moment, but Scott doesn’t seem to mind, his fingers dancing a waltz of their own along her bare back. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you, you know,” he practically sings as his cheek presses against hers. “Wouldn’t have made it past the first task.”

“I know,” she whispers back, a smirk on her face. He growls a little and as he dips her almost to the ground she swears he _bites_ her. “What did you do without me your first year?”

“Well I know what you did, you made a countdown for every single day until you got to see me again.” His breath tickles her ear and she finds herself giggling, of all things. “Miss me a little too much?”

“You know you’re not as clever as you think you are,” she responds smoothly, pausing as he twirls her around. “Chiddy told me that you used to write letters to me and then throw them away because they were too embarrassing.” It’s Scott’s turn to flush, and she laughs delightedly. “What did you have to say to me, Scott? Why didn’t I get to know?” She presses herself up against him, and if she lets her body slide down his a little, so be it.

“Probably something about you being a tease,” he groans. He presses her waist to his again, but then music’s ending, and reality starts to set back in. She backs away from him slowly, the whispers of the crowd fading back into view.

“Tessa,” he says, his voice clearer, and even though he’s looking at her with heavy-lidded eyes, like he’s thinking about chasing after her, she shakes her head, her heart sinking.

“Go be with your people, golden boy.” She steps into the crowd, refusing to let herself turn back to the girls she knows are now vying for Scott’s attention. _It’s just a dream_ , she reminds herself. _He’s just playing a part, pretending to be golden boy._

She wishes she didn’t know why exactly it hurt so much.

 

* * *

 

 

 

She’s still in her gown, standing outside the main entrance, a faux-fur lined wrap around her shoulders that’s doing little to protect her from the snow gently falling onto the grounds.  The Yule Ball is in full swing, the elegant music of the beginning long since given way to the wizarding pop that she detests and Scott loves. She wonders who he’s chosen to dance with now, whether he and Kaitlyn Lawes have found their way back to each other, or maybe one of the girls from the Quidditch team have found him, he always did speak highly of them. She pulls the wrap tighter around herself, willing the tightness in her chest away.

“Tess.”

“Go back inside, Scott.”

“Tessa,” he says, and she finally turns around at the clear ache in his voice. He’s standing at the door, his hair a little more disheveled and cheeks rosy, looking somehow even more handsome than he looked in the entrance hall before. “Why did you leave?”

“We’re too different, Scott. You revel in all this attention and I shy away from it, you act first and I think everything through ten times over. You jump into relationships with your whole heart, and I can’t even admit my feelings to myself. The people in there all know it, we should know it too. We should have known the day I got sorted into Slytherin that this friendship could never last.”

“Bullshit,” he says, his eyes flashing. “Tessa I don’t give a damn about anyone in there, I don’t need a single one of those people’s attention, I just wanted _your_ attention.” He grabs her arm. “You say you don’t know your own heart? Well I do.” He presses her up against the side of the castle, and it’s reminiscent of their Task together but that’s not why her heart starts racing. “You and I, Slytherin and Gryffindor, Silver and Gold, tower and dungeon, we’re _perfect_ matches. We’ve been a good team since we were back in Canada, and these stupid labels don’t stop that. I mean it when I say I couldn’t be doing this tournament without you, you’re always there with every potion I don’t remember how to make, every transfiguration I need to remember. We’re partners, Tessa. Who else is going to know me better than I know myself?”

“Why does it matter so much?” She breathes, looking up into his dark eyes a couple centimeters away from hers. “Why can’t we just be normal friends, friends who don’t know everything the other is thinking before they think it, friends who don’t sneak off into the woods to hang out, friends who don’t rescue each other from occamies like a damn fairy tale prince?”

“Because…” he says stubbornly.

“Eloquent,” Tessa teases back automatically. “Because why?”

“Because,” he repeats, and when she reaches out to bop him on the nose, he slides both of his hands into her hair and crushes his mouth to hers.

 

* * *

 

 

 

When they make it back to the Great Hall several minutes later, they’re both a bit damp, but they’re holding hands, their sides seemingly glued together, and Scott has three different lipstick marks on his neck. The room goes silent as Tessa spots Kaitlyn and Andrew near one end of the room, and she drags Scott over to them, ignoring the wide eyes of wizards from three different magical schools. Their eyes find similar marks on Andrew’s cheek at the same time, and Scott raises his eyebrows at the pair of them.

“That’s one way to shut them up,” Kaitlyn comments, looking around at the stunned crowd. Kaitlyn Lawes is looking miserable from where she stands near a Durmstrang boy, and Madison and Zach look entirely too delighted at their new material for teasing. Professors Lauzon and Dubreuil are sitting next to Professor Browning holding hands, and of the three only Professor Browning looks even remotely surprised. When Tessa meets Professor Lauzon’s eyes, he winks.

“Let them whisper,” Tessa declares, and she squeezes Scott’s hand. “They can have the golden boy and the ice queen, we’ll keep Tessa and Scott.”


End file.
